Conventions for the typing of verses
- 1. General aspects
- 2. Distinguishing U and I
- 3. Use of the mark . (dot) between two (or more) vowels
- 4. The use of the mark _ (underscore) between two vowels
- 5. The use of the mark _ (underscore) to indicate the position of a hiatus
- 6. Assigning an unusual prosody to a word
- 7. The drop of an S must always be marked by replacing the letter with the mark ' (apostrophe)
1. General aspects
In most cases, no special rules need to be followed for typing in verses; the program usually recognises consonantal
Is and Us, so that users may freely write U or V, I or J, in any position.
Instances have been recorded, however, in which the program stated it was unable to scan some verses or wavered between different possibilities, and therefore required additional information to accept an anomaly or solve an ambiguity. The solution in cases such as these is to add an explanatory note just after the problematic word, so as to present it again according to conventions that will clear any syllabification, prosodic, phonetic or syntactic doubts. This note will have to be marked by the characters (== e ) and only contain capitals and conventional symbols. Since the program will not syllabify the content in brackets, it is strictly necessary to provide all the information required: users must mark Us and Is as either vowels or consonants (U and I = vowels; V and J = consonants; JJ = intervocalic I), as well as all diphthongs and hiatuses in vowel sequences. The non-alphabetical marks that may be used are:
Instances have been recorded, however, in which the program stated it was unable to scan some verses or wavered between different possibilities, and therefore required additional information to accept an anomaly or solve an ambiguity. The solution in cases such as these is to add an explanatory note just after the problematic word, so as to present it again according to conventions that will clear any syllabification, prosodic, phonetic or syntactic doubts. This note will have to be marked by the characters (== e ) and only contain capitals and conventional symbols. Since the program will not syllabify the content in brackets, it is strictly necessary to provide all the information required: users must mark Us and Is as either vowels or consonants (U and I = vowels; V and J = consonants; JJ = intervocalic I), as well as all diphthongs and hiatuses in vowel sequences. The non-alphabetical marks that may be used are:
| underscore | _ | separates two vowels in a hiatus both within the same word (A_ERA) and between words (EPHYRE_) |
| dot | . | combines two or more vocals through a diphthong or synizesis (RE.I) |
| short quantity | - | assigns a short quantity to the preceding vowel (NI-SI) |
| long quantity | + | assigns a long quantity to the preceding vowel (DI+U) |
| apostrophe | ' | replaces a dropped S (TORVU') |
N.B.: in the explanatory notes the marks- (short) and + (long) replace the usual
because they are easier to type
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Let us consider the most common cases in which it may be necessary to insert an explanatory note (== ).
2. Distinguishing U and I
The need to distinguish the vowels U and I from the consonants V and J may arise in some cases
in which the program is incapable of making this distinction itself:
- Two homographs with different syllabification ? in a metrical context in which both words would be acceptable ?
can only be distinguished based on the semantic context. For example:
- Ter sine profectu uoluit nitentia contra
- Auulsum montis uoluit latus, obuia passim
In these verses both VOLUIT and VOLVIT would be metrically acceptable: the program, therefore, requires a distinction to be made through an explanatory note:
- Ter sine profectu uoluit(==VOLUIT) nitentia contra
- Auulsum montis uoluit(==VOLVIT) latus, obuia passim
In the following verse, Troia could be either bisyllabic or trisyllabic; hence it is necessary to specify:
- Troia(==TROIA) Rhoeteo quem subter litore tellus
- Exceptional consonantalisation of vocalic Is or Us. Since this phenomenon is not covered by the program's rules,
it must be flagged through a note providing J and V in place of I and U. For example:
- Fluviorum(==FLUVJORUM) rex Eridanus camposque per omnis
- Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque(==LAVINJAQVE) venit
- At nunc, exaequet tetricas licet ilia(==ILJA) Sabinas,
- Ebulliat(==EBULLJAT) patruus, praeclarum funus!" et "o si
- Iuli(==JULI) Flore, quibus terrarum militet oris
- Hieremiam(==HJEREMIAM) dixere alii paruisse profetam.
- Fluminis os, diri ripas habitant Iaxartae(==JAXARTAE).
- Linquitur hic quaedam latitandi copia tenuis(==TENVIS),
- Atque aliis extenuantur(==EXTENVANTUR) tabentque uicissim.
- Exceptional vocalisation of consonantal Is and Us: the phenomenon must be
flagged with a note providing I and U in place of J and V. For example:
- Egregio comitata uiro; nam proximus Iob(==IOB)
- Vt medium ualli, pax nostra, resoluit Iesus(==IESUS)
- "Nonne hic est fabri suboles, cui nomen Ioseph(==IOSEPH)?
- Nunc quoque te saluo persoluenda(==PERSOLUENDA) mihi.
3. Use of the mark . (dot) between two (or more) vowels
- The odd formation of a diphthong: this always requires an explanatory note. For example:
- Nec radicitus e vita se tollit et eicit(==E.ICIT),
- Quod si forte fuisse antehac(==ANTE.H.AC) eadem omnia credis,
- Omnibus his Thesei dulcem praeoptarit(==PRA.E.OPTARIT) amorem,
- Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc(==DE.H.INC) talia fatur:
- Rege sub Eurystheo(==EURYSTHE.O) fatis Iunonis iniquae
- Deicere(==DE.ICERE) de saxo civis aut tradere Cadmo?"
- Turaque dant Bacchumque uocant Bromiumque Lyaeumque(==LYA.E.UMQVE)
- Pasco libatis dapibus. prout(==PRO.UT) cuique libido est,
- Eosdem(==E.OSDEM) habuit secum quibus est elata capillos,
- Tradidit arcano quodcumque uolumine Moyses(==MO.YSES):
- Ecce deum in numero formatus et aeneus(==A.ENEUS) astat
AËNEUS, which is quadrisyllabic as a rule, is here marked as being exceptionally trisyllabic
- The disambiguation of homographs. For example:
- Extremam, ut perhibent, Coeo(==CO.EO) Enceladoque sororem
the personal name is usually bisyllabic, but must be distinguished from the homographic verbal form COËO, which is trisyllabic (one must bear in mind that the program makes no distinctions between capital and small letters)
- Extremam, ut perhibent, Coeo(==CO.EO) Enceladoque sororem
4. The use of the mark _ (underscore) between two vowels
The program detects words containing the bisyllabic groups AE, OE and AU.
The few instances in which further specification may be required may be boiled down to the following circumstances:
-
Homographs, such as aera/aëra, which are not solved by the metrical context. For example:
- Et quasi permanare per aeris(==A_ERIS) interuallum.
since both homographs, AËRIS (trisyllabic) and AERIS (bisyllabic), would be possible in the metrical context, it is necessary to further specify
- Et quasi permanare per aeris(==A_ERIS) interuallum.
-
The odd loosening of a dyphthong. For example:
- Siquis forte manu premere ac siccare coepit(==CO_EPIT).
here it is necessary to note that COEPIT is exceptionally trisyllabic - Sole dies lunamque dein(==DE_IN) patiuntur in ortus
here it is necessary to note the lack of synizesis in a vowel group that poets usually treat as being monosyllabic
- Siquis forte manu premere ac siccare coepit(==CO_EPIT).
5. The use of the mark _ (underscore) to indicate the position of a hiatus
The program may fail to scan a verse because it cannot choose between several positions for a
hiatus; in such cases, the mark _ must be added at the end of the word where the hiatus occurs; for example:
- Quis melior plorante gula(==GULA_)? ergo omnia fiunt,
6. Assigning an unusual prosody to a word
The program envisages the possibility that the prosody of word may vary or ? as is far more common ?
that different prosodies may simply be due to homography. Still, very unusual prosodies may occur
that the program is not familiar with and which must therefore be marked through an explanatory note. For example:
- Atque eius(==E-JUS) ipse manet religatus corpore torto;
- Principium cuius(==CU-JUS) hinc nobis exordia sumet,
in these two cases, the addition of note to mark the short quantity of the vowel (-) prevents the lengthening of the first syllable after the intervocalic I - Quis nunc diligitur nisi conscius et cui(==CU-I-) feruens
CUI is here marked as being bisyllabic and having unusual quantities - Adnuit(==ADNU+IT) sese mecum decernere ferro
the note marks that the unusual quantity of the U in the word ADNUIT
7. The drop of an S must always be marked by replacing the letter with the mark ' (apostrophe)
- Orionis(==ORIONI') iacet levipes Lepus. Hic fugit, ictus